A nonprofit Fermi Explorer Mission said it plans to launch a 1-kilogram spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri by the end of 2029, accepting an arrival time of up to 80,000 years to keep the mission feasible.
A new trajectory generated by PSI’s AI system after three days of mostly autonomous research solved the team’s main design problem: how to power a small solar spacecraft without making it too heavy.
The route would send the probe repeatedly close to the sun—inside Mercury’s orbit—where solar panels get about four times more light and engine burns deliver more energy, allowing smaller panels and lower mass.
PSI launched alongside the announcement with $58 million in funding led by Breakthrough Energy, while Fermi says its own mission can be attempted for about $15 million from private donors.
The plan contrasts with Yuri Milner’s 2016 Breakthrough Starshot concept, which promised a 20-year trip with laser-driven probes but has yet to launch, underscoring Fermi’s focus on flying proven hardware first.